–Tragic or hilarious? “Social Security disability trust fund projected to run out of cash by 2016”

Mitchell’s laws: The more budgets are cut and taxes inceased, the weaker an economy becomes. Until the 99% understand the need for deficits, the 1% will rule. To survive long term, a monetarily non-sovereign government must have a positive balance of payments. Austerity = poverty and leads to civil disorder. Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
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“Bathos” is the sudden, unexpected transition from tragedy to humor. You decide. Does this article meet the criteria for bathos? Here are a few excerpts from the article frighteningly titled:

Social Security disability trust fund projected to run out of cash by 2016
By Brian Faler, Wednesday, May 30, 6:08 AM

A government entitlement program is headed for insolvency in four years, and it’s not the one members of Congress are talking about most.

The Social Security disability program’s trust fund is projected to run out of cash far sooner than the better-known Social Security retirement plan or Medicare. That will trigger a 21 percent cut in benefits to 11 million Americans — people with disabilities, plus their spouses and children — many of whom rely on the program to stay out of poverty.

Wow! In only four years, the U.S. government will be forced to cut benefits to all those disabled people and their families. Why? Because the Monetarily Sovereign U.S. government — the government that because it is Monetarily Sovereign has the unlimited ability to create dollars — has run out of dollars!!!!

Tragic or hilarious?

“It’s really striking how rapidly this is growing, how big it’s become and how D.C. is just afraid of it,” said Mark Duggan, a University of Pennsylvania economist and adviser to the Social Security Administration.

Duggan said the disability plan has been running on autopilot for decades and lawmakers could find savings to help avoid the scheduled cuts.

Mark Duggan is an economist and an adviser to the Social Security Administration. He thinks “savings” are necessary to avoid cuts.

Tragic or hilarious?

The growing costs are also a result of the economy’s troubles. When people can’t find work and run through their jobless benefits, many turn to disability benefits for assistance.

“They’re desperate,” said Ken Nibali, a retired associate commissioner of the program. “Some who are marginal and struggling to have a low-paying job now literally have no options.” So, he said, “they figure, ‘I do have trouble working, and I’m going to apply and see if I’m eligible.’ ”

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), said he has tried to interest fellow lawmakers in the issue, without much luck. “Nobody wants to touch things where they can be criticized,” Coburn said, adding, “the fund is going bankrupt” and “then what are we going to do?”

Sen. Coburn thinks a federal fund can go bankrupt and Congress won’t do anything about it.

Coburn and the rest of Congress: Tragic or hilarious?

Social Security is made up of two programs: the retirement plan supporting 40 million senior citizens and 6 million survivors, and the disability insurance program created during the Eisenhower administration.

The disability program pays benefits averaging $1,111 a month, with the money coming from the Social Security payroll tax.

No, the money doesn’t come from the payroll tax. Our Monetarily Sovereign government creates dollars by spending. It has no need for, nor use of, taxes. All federal tax dollars are destroyed upon receipt.

The author, Brian Faler joins the “bathos” club.

The program cost $132 billion last year, more than the combined annual budgets of the departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security, Commerce, Labor, Interior and Justice. That doesn’t include an additional $80 billion spent because disability beneficiaries become eligible for Medicare, regardless of their age, after a two-year waiting period.

The disability program is projected to exhaust its trust fund in 2016, according to a Social Security trustees report released last month. Once it runs through its reserve, incoming payroll-tax revenue will cover only 79 percent of benefits, according to the trustees. Because the plan is barred from running a deficit, aid would have to be cut to match revenue.

Our Monetarily Sovereign federal government has the unlimited ability to create its sovereign currency, the dollar. The disablity program is about to run out of dollars. Hmmm . . . What to do? What to do? Help! Can anyone think of a solution?

Congress can: Cut benefits to the disabled.

Tragic or hilarious?

. . . once people enter the program . . . fewer than 1 percent rejoin the workforce. Many worked “menial” jobs that didn’t offer health insurance, and the program gives them an opportunity to join Medicare long before they might otherwise qualify, Nibali said.

In Nine steps to prosperity; a short message to #Occupy Wall Street, the 2nd of the nine steps was, “Medicare — parts A, B & D — for everyone.”

So because our Monetarily Sovereign government won’t take this sensible and compassionate step, the people find a way to do it for themselves.

Neither President Obama nor House Republicans in their proposed budgets has addressed the disability program’s shortfall.

“We’re not trying to fix every problem in America with this one document,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) of his budget plan. “We’re trying to prevent a debt crisis, and this is not a driver of our debt.”

Paul Ryan outdoes himself every time he opens his mouth. There is no debt crisis for a Monetarily Sovereign government, that can pay any debt, of any size, any time. This is just the Tea/Republican method for keeping down the 99%. (Hey, let the disabled fend for themselves. They aren’t part of our 1%.)

Kenneth Baer, a spokesman for the White House budget office, said in an e-mail. “The president remains willing to work with Congress on a bipartisan basis to strengthen Social Security and protect the millions of beneficiaries.”

He added that lawmakers didn’t fully fund the administration’s request for more money to screen beneficiaries.

Get it? President Obama will “strengthen Social Security and protect beneficiaries” by removing people from the program. You just can’t make this stuff up. Our dear leader is a right winger hiding in left wing clothing.

And now finally, the winner of the “bathos” prize, a tragic/hilarious paragraph buried way down at the very end of the article:

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), whose committee sets Social Security policy, said the program’s finances are less dire than they may appear. Congress can funnel revenue from elsewhere in the government to cover the program’s shortfall, he said.

I award five clowns to all those mentioned in the article, as well as the author, and I thank them for the entertainment. This bathos brought tears to my eyes.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com

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No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth. Monetary Sovereignty: Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia. Two key equations in economics:
Federal Deficits – Net Imports = Net Private Savings
Gross Domestic Product = Federal Spending + Private Investment and Consumption + Net exports

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY